Christian Life

This Pastor Won’t Be Talking about Homosexuality and Here’s Why

In case you haven’t heard the news, last week the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples can now, legally, get married in all 50 states. This decision, of course, came with its fair share of backlash, especially from those who believe that homosexuality is a sin.

We’ve tackled this topic on our site multiple times and last week we resurfaced an article that encouraged Christians to love first, think second and react last. What we learned is that it can be difficult to discuss polarizing topics like this one. That is why we jumped for joy (literally) when we came across this video. In it, Pastor Carl Lenz expresses our same sentiments, but in the most divine and thought-provoking way.

So before you do anything else today, take a look at this short video and see if it changes the way you approach the topic of homosexuality.

If you think about it, God understands sin. He understands why people do the bad things that they do. He knows that he created some men with extra estrogen and some women with extra testosterone, which causes them to be attracted to the same gender. I like to believe that God gives you an opportunity to explain yourself on judgement day, and I’d like to think that many gays and transgendered people will be explaining: “Hey, you made me this way”

Honestly, I don’t think that the persons personal choices should define the person it’s how they act towards me and if your a nice person I will be a nice person back, but if you are a homosexual person and you rub it into my face and tell me that God doesn’t exist and it doesn’t matter what they do then I take a defensive position and in a calm way, explain to them where I stand and if you don’t like me for it then you and I need to find an agreement to settle things on. I loose friends this way but I find it’s the easiest, Christian thing to do.

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (‭2 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭3-4‬ NIV)

If God commands me to love my neighbor and to love even the people I disagree with, we need to redefine that meaning of love.

Love is going out of your way to benefit someone else; it’s compassion beyond compare. It’s kindness at its greatest form. If I know that 1) God is holy, sovereign, and just and 2) He wants me to love others, then it IS in fact a part of my job as a Christian to go out of my way to make sure others know about Jesus and are aware of how their present lifestyles will affect their eternal futures.

Pastor Lenz has, metaphorically, thrown his hands up in the air and said, “Your life is between you and God; I’m not getting in the middle of it.” There is truth and error to his statement. He has correctly understood that God is the ultimate judge of every person’s life, but he has erroneously stated that we shouldn’t question it. He has said that he’s fine with someone walking out of the church building, saying that this life isn’t for them.

If I were a pastor, I’d be very concerned that I think this way. Yeah, this person’s eternal future is in the hands of God, but God has so clearly commanded us to go with great urgency in being concerned about someone’s eternal destiny.

To me, real love is not acceptance or approval. It’s genuine concern. It is wanting someone to be with you and with God in heaven.

I am also concerned for homosexuals. However, give me one reason why a celibate homosexual should go to hell? They are still considered homosexual based on their thoughts and the gender preferences. We should assume (since we are probably not HEAVILY involved in EVERY gay person’s life) that they are all going to heaven because God loves everyone, and guilt is a very powerful thing. If someone feels guilty about something, they can confess to God. God will let anyone in to heaven as long as they are truly sorry and understand their sins.

I love everything that you said about this issue. People need to stop being afraid to offend others and address the matter. You can’t hide everything under a blanket and go around not addressing the elephant in the room. First to get this out of the way, no Christian is judging anyone, maybe some but not all, because it isn’t our place to judge anybody. However that doesn’t mean we don’t come with LOVE and tell you that what you are doing isn’t right. Second, no sin is bigger than any other sin is. Sin is sin. An adulterer may not want to hear that what they are doing isn’t right but if you know of the sin you cannot blind your eyes and pretend to not see it. If they continue to do it, then you wash your hands of the matter and move on. You can’t force someone to do anything that they don’t want to do. Look at it this way , since God is our father and created everything, you would think that he would try and force us to follow him instead of Satan. Wrong, he allows us to choose our own destiny… This is the same way that we should be. If they continue the only thing we can do is pray that God has mercy upon them and shows them the light. We are living in the end times and I’m not just saying this just because they legalized gay marriage that is the least of our problems. We need to be spirit filled and prayerful in these times, especially with the culture changing around us. I end in this note, let God be God.God walks by his purpose and he knows the beginning to the end. Remember to treat others with love and keep prayer in your life, because as Christians the goal is to spread the love of Christ and win souls.

I agree with you completely I used to live in new York until 2 years ago and my family had a few gay friends and my dad was very clear on his opinions and were they were headed so they knew were he stood but he also believes in loving the person in the love sinner hate the sin type of way so they still hung around him . I believe you should be concerned about people and let them know where stand on whatever the subject and continue to love on them but in the end their decision is between them and god.

Thanks for sharing and reminding us that Christianity is not about behavior change but heart change and a relationship with Jesus. I’ve been attending Hillsong for almost 2 years and love Pastor Carl’s stance on this, especially because of the area that I live in. Ostracizing people never shows them the loves of Christ.

If you are suggesting that homosexuality is a behavior, I’m sorry but I have to disagree. You cannot “change” a gay person. Even if they remain celibate, their thoughts are still homosexual. Behaviors are things you can change, such as with smoking, drinking (excessively), doing drugs, etc. Homosexuality is not a behavior, lifestyle or choice.

I get his point, and why he wouldn’t want to make statements about homosexuality on the pulpit. I do, however see a need in this culture for the meaning of marriage to be reaffirmed. The priest at my church made a wonderful homily about marriage in general and how divorce and cohabitation rates are rather high, and the rate among Christians is about the same as among unbelievers, and how we need to begin to question what marriage really means so that in the future the rates of divorce and cohabitation before marriage can decrease. I think it’s very misunderstood as to what marriage is and what makes marriage what it is as a union between a man and a woman. I think it needs to be realized that marriage is more than just love, and love Is more than just a feeling. I also think many people assume that if you don’t agree with someone’s actions then you must hate them, which should never be the case. We should hate sin and love people as God would love us. I think gently leading someone away from their sin, (rather than pretending there sin is okay), is a great display of love.